Boxer says media sensationalized crash, DWI

February 15, 2013

LAKE PLACID - The lawyer for a boxer accused of drunken driving here says no decisions were made about his client's case at a court hearing Thursday.

Meanwhile, Tomasz Adamek - the 36-year-old professional boxer from Poland who now lives in Jersey City, N.J. - has written on his website that the media sensationalized the Jan. 13 car crash that led to his driving while intoxicated charge in the village of Lake Placid.

Adamek's lawyer, Brian Barrett of Lake Placid, said Thursday's court date was a "control hearing." Barrett appeared on his client's behalf.

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Tomasz Adamek(Photo — Lake Placid Police Department)

"Nothing really occurred other than we just set dates," he said.

Barrett declined to discuss the accusations against Adamek, saying only that both sides will reconvene in court on March 14. Additional court dates may be set after that hearing.

Essex County Assistant District Attorney Michele Bowen is handling the case for the prosecution.

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Police said at the time of the crash that Adamek lost control while attempting to steer his vehicle from Saranac Avenue onto Mirror Lake Drive. He crashed into an unoccupied parked vehicle, causing it to lurch forward into another parked vehicle, according to police reports.

No one was injured, but responding officers suspected that Adamek was under the influence of alcohol. He refused to take a chemical test to determine his blood alcohol content, and police charged him with DWI.

In a Feb. 7 blog post at www.tomaszadamek.eu, Adamek wrote that he was in Lake Placid to "ski and to rest from boxing," something he has reportedly done in the past. He went on to describe the "media chaos" that followed his car crash.

"From a small sliding accident in a cold and icy city they blew up to some huge collision," Adamek wrote. "It could not have been any different, the media always looks for the next sensation. All it takes is one story and then the snowball effect begins."

In the post, Adamek said the accident happened because the roads were slippery and icy. He didn't say whether he had been drinking prior to the crash.

Barrett declined to comment on the blog post.

The Enterprise was the first media outlet to report on the crash, but the story didn't play up the incident in a typically sensationalist way, instead describing the police department's relatively straightforward account of what happened and including response from Adamek's lawyer. The Associated Press ran a condensed version of the Enterprise report that was picked up widely. Adamek doesn't specify which media allegedly sensationalized the crash.

Adamek is a former World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion. He currently holds the IBF North America heavyweight title and has a professional record of 48-2. He will reportedly face Kubrat Pulev this spring, and the winner of that match could move on to face Wladimir Klitschko, the current WBA-IBF-WBO-IBO and The Ring heavyweight champion.